How do Results Look and What do They Mean?

Comments for this sample individual: These sample results are for a person of African-American descent.

Part A: Genetic Profile: Your unique genetic profile includes your allele values for 13 genetic markers distributed throughout your autosomal chromosomes. At each locus, you have two values: one allele inherited from your father and one allele inherited from your mother, for a total of 26 dimensions used to compute your geographic ancestry. Values from nine of these markers are used to compute Native and Global population matches, while values from all thirteen markers are used to compute high resolution World Region matches.

Comments for this sample individual: At each locus, this individual inherited one allele value from their mother and one from their father. Each allele value is a number representing repeats of a particular genetic sequence. For instance, at locus TH01, this individual has inherited one allele of length 8 (8 repeats) and an allele of length 9 (9 repeats). Because these alleles are passed down independently on separate chromosomes, it would be necessary to test a parent to determine which parent passed down which allele. This DNA profile serves as a genetic fingerprint for this person. This collection of allele values is used to compute a person’s connections to individual populations and world regions.

Part B: Native Population Match: DNA Tribes identifies your Top 20 matches in a database of all native populations that have experienced minimal movement and admixture in the last 500 years. Individual matches do not necessary indicate recent social or cultural affiliation with a particular ethnicity. Instead, the geographical distribution of your Native Population Match results indicates your most likely deep ancestral origins.

Comments for this sample individual: The Top 20 Native population matches for this individual include both European and African populations. Individual scores do not indicate a person’s percentage of individual ethnic groups. Instead, they indicate where a DNA profile is most frequent. The strongest match is with a Mozambique sample, where this individual’s DNA profile is 24.4 times as likely as in the world as a whole. However, this DNA profile can be found in other nearby African populations at similar frequencies. For instance, the score for Gabon is 21.1, indicating this DNA profile is 24.4 / 21.1 = 1.2 times as likely in Mozambique as in Gabon.

Some nations appear multiple times within these listings. For instance, samples from Mozambique and Maputo, Mozambique appear at similar frequencies. These represent independent population samples. When two samples from the same nation obtain similar scores, this is more evidence of genetic connections to this nation or ethnic group.

For this individual, Mozambique would be the most likely African place of origin, but other ethnic origins such as Gabon, South Sotho, or Sudan cannot be excluded. Because no population is completely isolated from its neighbours, individual DNA profiles often overlap with a number of populations at similar frequencies. These genetic matches provide strong clues as to where this person’s ancestors left the strongest genetic traces and where their genetic relatives in Africa live today.

This individual’s top matches also include European populations, indicating an element of European ancestry. Within Europe, this person’s DNA profile is most frequent within Glasgow, Scotland, suggesting Scottish ancestors or ancestors from the British Isles.

Part C: Global Population Match: In this section we provide your Top 20 matches in a database of all global populations, including native peoples as well as Diaspora groups that expanded from their homelands and sometimes admixed with other populations in recent history. The geographical distribution of these matches indicates your closest genetic relatives today and peoples whose blend of geographical ancestry is most similar to your own.

Comments for this sample individual: These Global results include not just native African populations but also the African Diaspora.  For instance, this individual’s DNA profile can be found at high frequencies in African-Americans living in many places, from the Bahamas to Connecticut.  Global matches do not mean this individual’s ancestors came from the Bahamas or Connecticut, but indicate places where African-Americans of a similar genetic background live today.

Part D: High Resolution World Region Match: World Region Match measures your genetic connections to twenty three world regions:

Comments for this sample individual: World region results provide the best general picture of a person’s genetic connections to the world. They can often clarify individual Native and Global population match results when they are difficult to interpret. For instance, this individual’s DNA profile is most frequent in Sub-Saharan Africa but can also be found (with scores >1.0) in other regions including Northwest Europe. This is consistent with the distribution of both Native and Global population matches, which are concentrated among populations of African descent but also include British Isles populations.

To be more precise, this individual’s DNA profile is most frequent in Sub-Saharan, where it is 163.4 times as likely as in the world. Substantial scores (>1.0) also include North Africa, Arabia, Asia Minor, Northwest Europe, the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe and North India. These secondary affiliations indicate this DNA profile can also be found at lower frequencies in other world regions.

Scores can be compared to each other to give relative frequencies. For instance, this DNA profile is 163.4 / 19.6 = 8.3 times as frequent in Sub-Saharan Africa as in North Africa.

All scores are measured against the Generic Human Index of 1.0. Scores above 1.0 are more frequent in that region than in the world, while scores below 1.0 are more frequent in the world than in that region. For instance, this individual’s score for the Basque region is 0.1, indicating this DNA profile is 1.0 / 0.1 = 10 times as likely in the world as in the Basque region.

Summary Comments: DNA Tribes results for this person provide a detailed and comprehensive picture of their African-American ancestry including their closest genetic relatives amongst ethnic groups in Africa, Europe and the African Diaspora as well as precise measurements of where their DNA profile can be found in 23 world regions.